Learning and Skills Improvement Services
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New occupational standards for family learning and personal tutoring released

The latest National Occupational Standards (NOS) for family learning and personal tutoring are now available for use by stakeholders, employers, and practitioners.

The development of the NOS has been led by Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), working with employers, stakeholders and expert practitioners from family learning and personal tutoring from across the UK.

Family Learning covers the workforce who plan, manage and provide learning within families and the existing NOS were reviewed by expert practitioners, employers and stakeholders during the second half of 2012 to ensure they continue to provide statements of skills and knowledge needed by the family learning workforce. The revised versions are now available for use and are also available in Welsh.

Also during 2012, Personal Tutoring National Occupational Standards were developed to provide statements of skills and knowledge needed by the Personal Tutoring workforce.Dr. Sally Wootton, Founding Director, The Further Education Tutorial Network (FETN) said:LSIS has supported the Further Education Tutorial Network (FETN) to bring NOS for Personal Tutoring to the sector along with a guide to tutorial management and practice.

“It has been a wonderful experience working LSIS particularly as they share our commitment to improving tutorial provision across the sector. Their approach to working with a diverse range of stakeholders has been exemplary. Their sensitivity towards individual contributions to development has enabled genuine collaboration and the best possible outcome for all.”

Liz Walters, Head of Qualifications and Skills at LSIS, said: “LSIS is pleased to work with partners in the development and revision of the National Occupational Standards for Family Learning and Personal Tutoring. NOS are nationally recognised standards across all nations of the UK, which can be used in a number of ways such as to inform the content of vocational and professional qualifications, inform the content of training programmes and to form the basis of company or organisation competency frameworks.”

National Occupational Standards are versatile tools which directly support staff and employers in the FE and lifelong learning sector in a number of ways:

  • Managers can use relevant standards to describe the skills they need in their workforce, identify skills that already exist and to develop plans to fill any gaps.
  • In staff recruitment, training and development standards can become the basis for job descriptions and training plans. They contain descriptions of good practice which can help set performance objectives.
  • For individuals, NOS are a useful tool for self-assessment and a means of recognising and describing personal achievements. They can form the basis for continuing professional development and associated career progression.
  • They are used by awarding bodies and regulatory organisations to develop and approve new qualifications.

All National Occupational Standards as well as information about their development and uses, frequently asked questions and case studies can be found on the NOS Database. Both these updated NOS are available in Welsh

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